


Bright

by thedevilyousay



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Kidnapping, Knight Derek Hale, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mildy Dark Stiles, POV Allison Argent, Princess Allison Argent, Werewolf Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 13:45:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18389615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilyousay/pseuds/thedevilyousay
Summary: "The strongest warlock in all the land uses his power to constantly kidnap the princess. Most people believe it’s because he’s in love with her, but they have it all wrong. He’s in love with the knight who always comes to save her."orAllison finally lets out all the air that’s been trapped in her lungs to giggle, a noise she quickly tries to cover with her hand. This is all too much though, honestly. Stiles isn’t even dressed, Derek has no idea that the mage only does this to see him, and she suddenly can’t remember if she took the kettle off the fire in Stiles kitchen before walking out here to greet her Knight. She tries to gather herself before she speaks.





	Bright

**Author's Note:**

> HIIIII, this is the first thing I've written innnnnn a hot minute, please don't judge it too harshly. I'm sure it's a mess but I loved the prompt and kind of ran with it. This is my second story from an outsider perspective (not Derek or Stiles) and I don't know why that keeps happening?? Hopefully it's fun to read though.
> 
> An actual note for the story, if you want it, is that I picture Stiles looking a little bit like his void self in this just because I like the contrast between him and golden boy Derek. Also void!stiles is forever and always a hottie, you can fight me.
> 
> Let me know if I missed any tags!

Allison tries her best to not yawn as she sits idly, her father and his advisors droning on and on about the borders of the kingdom. They had been at this for most of the night already and she knows all the maps and their pieces like the back of her hand at this point. She just wants to go to bed. 

Another hour, maybe more passes and she is almost asleep, her eyes at half mast but open enough to still arguably be awake when there’s a bright flash of light in the corner behind her chair, a wave of heat making the ends of her hair singe slightly. Her hand instinctively moves to the dagger at her belt when she feels it pulled from her grip, it and every other metal weapon in the room hitting the stone walls all at once. At the same time her limbs become heavy, much too heavy to move any further or help her escape.

Able to shift only her eyes, she notices the same affliction has affected the rest of the room, everyone for the most part frozen where they last sat or stood, minus Peter, her father’s left hand and the only werewolf present. His own eyes glow a bright blue as he snarls and reaches for the whip at his side, the smart crack of it echoing as it races toward the corner where the flash came from.

There’s a low chuckle before a dark figure moves into the light, the leather tip of the whip curled around the man’s arm and hand. The weapon strains between them, taut, yet he ignores the wolf as he speaks. 

“Hello princess, I have missed you terribly.” 

Peter, never one to back down without a fight, growls and tries to roughly pull the strip of leather from the mage but the man pulls back harder and sends Peter sliding across the large table in the center of the room, his grip only loosening once he’s about to go over the edge. The mage quickly curls the lash back up before looping it across his chest, obviously intending to keep it.   
  
“A gift! I don’t have one of these, how did you know?” The smile on the dark entity’s face looks out of place for how bright it is in comparison to the deep circles under his eyes and the almost gray pallor of his skin in the firelight. Allison tries again to move her body, wishing she could at least stand to face the enemy, but nothing cooperates. 

“Please! Don’t take her, take me instead!” The King valiantly tries to get up from where he’s trapped in his own seat but it’s no use. The mage never comes for the King, the ransom always much higher and more satisfying for his only child. 

Allison, still trapped, feels two strong but gentle hands on her shoulders and then she’s disoriented and blind, the same heat and flash of light that preceded the mage’s entrance also his calling card upon their exit. 

Long minutes pass before she feels safe enough to open her eyes, the war room where she and her father strategized given away to a much quieter, darker chamber. Candles flicker haphazardly at different heights all around the space and she can’t help the sigh of relief she lets out. 

“I see that your flair for the dramatic continues to grow, Stiles. Really? My war room?” 

Stiles, the mage, looks sheepish as he comes into view, moving quickly towards a chair opposite her own before falling into it. 

“Can you really blame me? I’ve been so bored, recently. And stealing you in open places is just too easy now. I wanted a bit of a challenge.”    
  
“Is that why you left Peter free?” Allison leans forward to grab a piece of bread and cheese off the table conveniently placed between them. She reaches for the wine goblet as well but finds it empty. Stiles, without even looking up from where he’s collapsed back in his own seat, snaps and the goblet fills with liquid.    
  
“Yes?” It’s more of a question than a statement and Allison is quick to understand the hesitation.    
  
“Ah, I see. You thought Derek might be there instead.”    
  
One amber eye cracks open enough to pierce her with it’s glare while the mage crosses his arms defensively over his chest where the whip still rests. “That’s not true.” 

“Yes it is, you didn’t want to trap him like everyone else. He panicked the last time you pulled that little trick on him and you didn’t want to set him off again.” 

Stiles abruptly waves and the table and food disappear, leaving room for him to jump to his feet and start pacing across the floor. Allison frowns, wishing she had grabbed at least a few more pieces of cheese.

“Do you think he’ll come? How long will it take him? Two days? Three?”   
  
Allison sighs again, put upon and so very, very over this. 

“Stiles, this is out of hand. Just tell him you have feelings for him, this can’t keep going on. I have things to do, people to meet. You’re going to give my poor father a heart attack one of these days, he feels like he can’t protect me properly.” 

“I...that is not my intention. How am I ever to explain though, Allie? He could never have feelings for someone like me, I am his worst and oldest enemy.” 

 

++++

 

Years ago, when this whole thing had started, Allison can remember actually fearing for her life. She was a teenager, barely trained in the hunting skills her royal family was renowned for but cocky enough to feel like she could protect herself when she had decided to traverse the castle gardens alone. 

She had been mindlessly counting different colored roses, happy to just be outside, when that first wave of heat had hit her and she turned to find a boy, her age or less, looking mean and determined. She was sprinting in the opposite direction before she even realized, but vines had erupted from below the earth and ensnared her ankles, tripping and pulling her back towards the dark magician. She continued to scramble but the moment the boy’s hand touched her leg, she was transported to somewhere else, the contents of her stomach abandoning her as quickly as her orientation. 

“OH! I’m so sorry, I forget how awful that is when you’re not used to it, here.” The boy had shoved a bucket at her and she was relieved a few minutes later when he snapped his fingers and it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. 

“Where am I?” she had weakly demanded, when she could find her voice again. “Who are you? What did you do?” 

The boy wasted no time in explaining that he was a mage and and he had kidnapped her for ransom. He knew it was wrong and that her father would probably have him hanged the first chance he got but he and his own father and the small village they lived in in a kingdom neighboring hers were dying from lack of shelter and starvation. He hoped the gold her father would hand over for her return would save them. He had no intention of harming her, much less of keeping her. He just needed the gold.

Allison, after a small explanation of why he simply couldn't magic that into existence like he did everything else and in spite of her good sense, believed the boy and agreed to help him send a raven bearing the message that she was gone and would only be returned for a price. 

A week after that first message found the two as fast friends. Allison was both amazed and delighted by all the magic Stiles could do, his quick wit, and steadfast encouragement and admiration of her own skills. The boy enjoyed having a friend who never seemed scared of him or his powers. Neither, at the time, had any idea they would create a bond that would last for the rest of their lives. 

And when the ransom money finally came, it did so attached to the belt of her father’s most favored knight, Derek Hale. Allison can clearly call to memory how intimidating Derek had looked as he rode in on his large war horse, his black and red armor gleaming in the sunlight of midday. 

She also remembers all too well the small gasp that her new, powerful friend had let out as Derek removed his helmet, his handsome face stern and his eyes a brilliant, wolf red in anger as he took in the tied up princess. In hindsight, if she had to pick a moment where everything went to hell, it would be this one. 

“Have you hurt her, witch? The King has forced me to promise to not remove your head from your neck with my teeth lest you make the first move, but I don’t think I can keep my word if you have done the lady harm.” 

Derek was young and brave and so in over his head but no one could have told him that. He was effortlessly the epitome of nobility and chivalry that most Knights strived to be, even early on. And Stiles, for his part, had the decency at least to look ever so slightly scolded before flashing his soon to be signature, arrogant smirk.

“I have not. That was not a part of the ransom. Do you have my gold?” 

Derek had removed the bag and tossed it at the mage’s feet. 

“Now release her.”  
  
Stiles snapped his fingers and the ropes around Allison had fallen to the ground. Derek and his horse moved so quickly that before she even knew it she was in front of him on the saddle and they were speeding back towards home.

Derek was an epic poem hero overnight, having braved and defeated the evil mage to return their princess to the kingdom. Allison never revealed the mage had always intended to let her go, ransom or not. Not even when the mage took her again, and again, and again. Enough times over the years that it should have been suspicious except that everyone loved her return so much. And that Derek was always the knight in shining armor who was rescuing her. 

So of course these days, Stiles doesn’t really need the gold. He hasn’t for a while honestly, having eventually learned that he can get a lot more than just a single bag for the wealthy King’s one and only heir. 

No, these days, much to Allison’s greatest chagrin and inconvenience, he does it to see Derek. Derek, the brave, tireless, impossible to sway from the righteous path Knight who he, a villainous, powerful and mischievous mage is madly in love with. 

Allison would hate them both, the idiots, if it weren’t for how much she loved them. 

 

++++

 

Several days later, after Allison has slept more in a few hours than she has in the last two weeks, she hears Derek’s horse approaching Stiles’ small keep. The gates open of their own accord as he nears them and she’s standing in the courtyard waiting for him, completely free, hoping to be done with all of this nonsense for once and all. She has a plan.   
  
Derek, to put it lightly, looks confused upon finding her not tied up and difficult to reach.    
  
“My lady?” He asks, dismounting his horse and checking her over with his eyes, searching for injuries that have never once been there in all the times he has come to her rescue.

“Hello, Derek. You’re early, is all well at home?” 

“Yes, your highness. Everything is fine except that we received no ransom note to explain your absence. We worried Sti- I mean, the witch finally had plans to not return you.”    
  
Allison can’t help but snort at that. She wonders if Stiles simply forget to send the ransom or finally hadn’t bothered. Her gut tells her the former, probably too worried about potentially speaking with Derek to finish out his “evil” deed. 

“I am fine as well, as always.” She smiles jovially, thrilled to finally be putting her plan into place and bringing an end to to this. “Perhaps you should go and check on Stiles though? I haven’t seen him this morning yet. He’s never much of an early riser but he can usually tell when the grounds are breach-”

“Allison!”

Both Allison and Derek turn to find Stiles running outside, still in only his bed pants and a long, silky looking black robe slung over his bare chest as he runs towards them. 

He’s out of breath by the time he stops near them, his stamina sorely lacking from usually choosing to warp everywhere. Allison has warned him many times over the years he still needs to exercise like a mere mortal or else. 

Derek reaches for his sword but doesn’t draw it, taking in the disheveled, mostly harmless looking mage and obviously deciding he isn’t much of a threat. An incredibly huge mistake on his part, for sure, but Allison also can’t blame him. Stiles is more likely to hurt himself than Derek, despite his ability to wipe a small country off the map with a sneeze if he’s not careful. 

“I...wasn’t expecting you, I mean this, so soon. Is the King well?” Stiles voice is scratchy from sleep still. Derek looks bewildered at the inquiry.   
  
“What do you care, witch? Is it not you who continues to cause him unease with the repeated theft of his daughter?”   


Derek’s tone doesn’t entirely match his words, more amused than accusing. 

“I can’t ask after the man required to pay my ransoms? It’s not much of a kidnapping if there’s no one to pay for the hostage’s return.”

“Stiles, you didn’t send a ransom this time.” Allison supplies helpfully. Stiles, trying to sneakily rub the sleep out of his eyes, startles.   
  
“What? Of course I did! I sent Merla out at first morning light.” 

At the sound of her name, the raven familiar swoops past Derek’s head and lands on Stiles’ shoulder where the message Stiles tied around her leg still waits to be delivered.  
  
“Oh.” Is the mage’s only weak response. The bird nips at the shiny ring in the top of his ear as he pulls his own hair in frustration and begins to grumble in conversation with the creature.   
  
Allison, at the edge of her vision, notices Derek’s posture gone soft as he watches the mage pace and argue. The hand on his sword is at rest and there’s a flicker of fondness at the corner of his mouth that anyone else might mistake as annoyance but the princess knows him too well. Perhaps her plan isn’t entirely ruined after all.  

“Stiles….Stiles!” Allison finally yells to get his attention. The mage stops in his tracks, his amber eyes glowing slightly with power in reaction to being distressed. “What will you do now?” 

Stiles bites his lip, thinking, before turning his gaze fully on Derek. “What do you have on you?”   
  
“Excuse me?” It’s Derek’s turn to be taken aback. 

“How much gold? A family heirloom of worth? Honestly, I kind of want Helios but then I don’t know how you would get back. Though that technically isn’t my problem.”   
  
The war horse whinnies at the sound of its name and Merla kraas in response.   
  
“You want my horse? To pay for the lady’s safe return?” Derek is just offended now, his expressive eyebrows pulled down in anger. 

“Or!...You? Can I have you?” Allison can’t cover the sound of her breath being held. It’s incredibly loud in the sudden silence.   
  
“Me?” Derek’s voice is soft when he finally does speak. “I stay in exchange for the princess to go free?” 

Stiles, who still looks like he can’t believe what came out of his own mouth only moment’s before, eyes only grow bigger at Derek’s return inquiry.    
  
“Y-yes. That’s right. She goes, you sta-”   
  
“For how long?” 

“What do you mean?”   
  
“Don’t play dense, witch. How long will I be imprisoned here in exchange for the ladies safe return?” 

“...One year.” Stiles look at Allison as if he’s asking, nay, begging for help. She offers none. She still hasn’t breathed and she wonders if she’s beginning to turn purple, perhaps. She did not see this coming but she’s also not entirely sure this hasn’t worked in her favor yet.

“Okay...but only on the condition that you never kidnap the princess again.  _ N ever _ , witch. She is safe from you for the rest of her life.” 

Allison finally lets out all the air that’s been trapped in her lungs to giggle, a noise she quickly tries to cover with her hand. This is all too much though, honestly. Stiles isn’t even dressed, Derek has no idea that the mage only does this to see _ him _ , and she suddenly can’t remember if she took the kettle off the fire in Stiles kitchen before walking out here to greet her knight. She tries to gather herself before she speaks.

“Derek, you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to give up a year of your life for me, and Stiles, you-”    
  
“It is my honor, your highness. To bring an end to this ordeal finally. I would spend the rest of my life imprisoned if it meant you never had to suffer again.”    
  
Allison resists the urge to roll her eyes again at her closest friend’s (besides Stiles) sincerity. She knows he means it, that’s just who he is. His heart is as golden as his face is handsome and the night is long. And it’s a  _ very  _ handsome face.

Turning back to Stiles, Derek holds out his arm to shake. “Do we have a deal, witch?”

“ _ Fuck _ ,” Stiles whispers softly, under his breath, as he takes the Knight’s arm in hand.  
  
  


++++ (Almost) One year later

 

Allison is sweating. Profusely. 

When she closes her eyes and calms her breathing, she can hear people talking and moving around outside the door she’s behind but she can’t distinguish what they’re saying. She tries wriggling her arms free again but it’s no use. The ropes attaching her to the chair she’s in are tied too tight. 

She wishes she would stop sweating, or if she were going to, it would at least aid her in escaping.

She’s lost count of how long she’s been here. A few hours? Surely not an entire day. She was grabbed on her way back to the castle from the village and it’s happened so many times before that at first, she didn’t react. She didn’t kick or scream or even struggle until when she finally came to, she was in a dark, entirely unfamiliar room.  
  
She is going to put so many knives into someone when she finally gets out of here. 

More time passes without any way for her to mark it. Her nose has begun to itch something fierce and she does her best to use her shoulder to rub it, growing more and more furious at her inability to scratch it properly as she tries.   
  
There’s suddenly a noise loud enough to distract her from her task. She listens closely as people yell and things hit the floor, an obvious struggle of some sort happening right outside where she’s being kept. It’s about damn time is really her only thought.  


When the door finally bursts open, glowing red eyes are the first thing she sees.    
  
“Princess?” 

She does her best to make a noise through the gag in her mouth. 

Derek moves quickly after that, slicing through her binds with ease with his claws. He helps steady her as she stands, checking her over out of habit, helping remove the cloth from around her face.  
  
“I’m fine! Give me a dagger and point me at who did this. Is it Stiles?? Because I will kill him, Derek, I will.”    
  
Despite being a little topsy on her feet, she steals the dagger from Derek’s belt and marches forward towards what she assumes is the door leading outside, not giving him time to answer. She doesn’t recognize the surrounding interior as she passes through but that really doesn’t mean much, overall.

When she finally opens the exterior door to exit she stops so fast Derek almost bowls her over from behind.   
  
Armored men all over the courtyard of the keep lie struggling to move, large vine like roots keeping them in place on the ground. Most of the surrounding buildings are ruined, having seemingly imploded from the inside out. Even able to look around, she still has no idea where she is. And at the top, farthest wall of the keep are repeated bright flashes of light and fire, some sort of battle, probably with magic, being waged. 

Before she can even fully step out the door, a familiar black object flies by Allison’s head and lands on Derek’s shoulder, pulling at his hair.  
  
“I’ve got her, she’s safe.” He tells the raven, stroking its feathered chest gently. 

There is a loud SNAP and a wave of heat in the next instant, forcing Derek to grab Allison by the shoulders lest she be blown back and over. In the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by singed grass and stone on all sides, is Stiles and another man wrapped up in much the same way Allison was only a few minutes ago. The man struggles violently against his bonds but makes little to no headway at freeing himself. 

“Princess?” Stiles calls, moving forward with the man floating in tow behind him. He’s careful to step over all the strewn, downed men who have finally quit moving, their energy wasted. 

“This wasn’t you?” Allison asks, pleasantly shocked. 

“What? Of course not! I made a promise, princess. I am a man of my word.”    
  
The mage comes to a stop in front of her and she takes him in. It’s been quite a few months seen she’s seen him last but he looks...healthy? His skin is still too pale and his eyes are still sleep deprived but his smile is bright in a way that it looks like it belongs now. When he glances over her shoulder at the man behind her, it grows brighter. 

“It is true, my lady. This was not the witch. This was a plot by the Deucalia Kingdom.”   
  
Derek points to the flags flying above the keep and she knows he’s telling the truth.   
  
“And who is this?” Allison asks, referring to the man still bound behind Stiles.

“The King’s wizard.” Stiles practically spits the answer. 

“What should we do with him?” Derek speaks up from behind her. 

Allison shares a long look with Stiles before nodding her consent. With one last snap, the man disappears.   
  


++++  


  
  
Allison exhales, long suffering, as they travel the last few miles back to her castle on horseback. Though Stiles had offered to warp them in, she had declined, having had enough of that to last her a lifetime, if she’s being forthright. Also, she’s not sure her father’s heart could take her appearing out of thin air the same way she usually disappears. 

So instead she follows behind the Knight and Mage at a sedate pace, unable to hear them but at a safe enough distance to watch them unencumbered. 

She can’t help but smile as Derek holds Stiles closely with one arm atop the large beast Helios, his chin practically resting on Stiles shoulder. She can see as they murmur back and forth to each other, laughing and smiling the entire time. Stiles must say something particularly ridiculous at one point because she watches Derek look towards the heavens and try not to smile. When he looks back down, it’s to plant a soft kiss on the back of the mage’s neck before nuzzling it which turns an immediate scarlet red as small sparks fly from Stiles’ hands where they are wrapped around the pommel.   
  
She’s happy to see that what’s left of the few weeks of Derek’s promised year probably won’t be hard on either of them. She also highly doubts that whatever they have started will be over at the end of said year. 

Which is great news, on all accounts. Most of all the one where it looks like there’s a war to be waged to the South. She knows that with both men, together, and by her side, that things look nothing but bright.   
  


 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are <3
> 
> Also if you really did like this, I could probably be convinced to write some snippets from their year together. I may have already started, who's to say.


End file.
